Document Actions
driven more by emotions
Does this sound familiar?
Kristin Zhivago writes:
The problem with marketing and sales is that they are the functions inside companies most likely to be driven more by emotions and anecdotal "evidence" than they are by facts. The result is never as profitable as it could be.
If salespeople dominate decisions, without the benefit of qualitative customer research and buying process analysis, the atmosphere is always dominated by fear of losing the next sale, and activity is always frantic.
I don't need to add any commentary. Go read what Kristin has to say.
Driven more by emotions
Posted by
Saeed Khan
at
2007-09-18 11:24 AM
As emotional beings, it's hard to remove emotion from any decision making process, particularly one where different frames of reference are involved.
Sales people HAVE to focus on the next deal or deals. That's how they're compensated. Others, such as marketers, HAVE to focus on the emotions of the customers and prospects. That's a fundamental part of marketing.
As much as we'd like every buying decision to be 100% rational and objective, that will never be the case. Getting into feature battles with competitors is a sign of weak marketing.
Ries and Trout's 4th law of marketing:
. the law of perception - marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.
As for internal decisions -- hard data is always great, but reality dictates that one will rarely have it all before a decision is necessary. At that point, a decision based on a number of factors, including emotional ones, is needed.
I tend to think balance is key. Get data where possible. Use it to GUIDE decisions, but in the end, no amount of data can predict the future, and thus "experience", "intuition", "gut feel", "emotion" are all needed because, to be honest, we have nothing better.
Saeed
Sales people HAVE to focus on the next deal or deals. That's how they're compensated. Others, such as marketers, HAVE to focus on the emotions of the customers and prospects. That's a fundamental part of marketing.
As much as we'd like every buying decision to be 100% rational and objective, that will never be the case. Getting into feature battles with competitors is a sign of weak marketing.
Ries and Trout's 4th law of marketing:
. the law of perception - marketing is not a battle of products, it's a battle of perceptions.
As for internal decisions -- hard data is always great, but reality dictates that one will rarely have it all before a decision is necessary. At that point, a decision based on a number of factors, including emotional ones, is needed.
I tend to think balance is key. Get data where possible. Use it to GUIDE decisions, but in the end, no amount of data can predict the future, and thus "experience", "intuition", "gut feel", "emotion" are all needed because, to be honest, we have nothing better.
Saeed
Emotion Returns
Posted by
Xiangdian
at
2007-09-30 11:35 PM
"Data" will take effective only when it turns into "information" and "intelligence". During this process of transforming, people's market sense, emotion and intuition are all involved. So i would say once the messy emotion-driven marketing turns to data-driven marketing successfully, it's time to call "emotion" back to help making decisions quickly.
A data-driven sales and marketing model is like photographing with right exposure, it makes sure the photo is taken "correctly" only. To take an excellent commercial photo requires very good and distinctive sense of the photographer, not only the right settings.
A data-driven sales and marketing model is like photographing with right exposure, it makes sure the photo is taken "correctly" only. To take an excellent commercial photo requires very good and distinctive sense of the photographer, not only the right settings.
Your post on emotions
I think that is quite a coincidence.
I probably agree with your comment, as there is no question that emotions do influence judgment and choice--among both similiar and dissimilar alternatives. Certainly, how people feel about things are part of that. I feel what should happen iis that managers make sure the emotion of his/her team is focused on a motion that influences the quality their work, not the nature of it. For example, there is an emotion that is all about quiet pride, not hubris or "I just saved 10% on my car insurance. YEA! (Followed by chest beating)"
Instead, its about that sense of pleasure that comes from being a professional, doing things right, using the information effectively and accurately. That's the role of emotions in management, not games . I have a few interesting sections on emotions, and will be issuing a free eBook that is useful in brand building. Best of luck with your impressive site. Just drop me an email and I'll send you one for your personal use, when it is released in a week or two.